STOP - System Change Outreach Program for Healthcare Providers in Arkansas

Audience: All tobacco control programs working to intervene in healthcare provider settings and systems. 

Key Points: The System Training Outreach Program (STOP) promotes the use of brief intervention by health care providers (2 A’s and R) as a tool to identify people who use tobacco products and provide assistance in quitting.  The health care provider will ASK if tobacco products are used, ADVISE them of the dangers of using tobacco products, and REFER them to services to help in quitting tobacco products.  Two outreach specialists have been hired to cover 2 of the 5 public health regions (central and northeast regions) of Arkansas to train healthcare providers (doctors, nurses, dentists, and mental health providers) about the STOP program and services offered through the Arkansas Tobacco Quit line (ATQ).  The ATQ provides a 5-call and 2-week free nicotine replacement therapy program.  The initial results from the STOP program have been phenomenal in their reach.  The two outreach specialist combined have made face to face contact with over 375 healthcare providers and over 225 organizations during the first eight weeks of the program.  The STOP program offers health care professional’s access to a web based training with CMEs.    

Educational Experience: The program will be describe from project planning, initiation, training needs with statewide surveys, website development and evaluation so that others will be able to replicate the project.

Benefits: Attaining comprehensive healthcare provider intervention in tobacco cessation across multiple disciplines will lead to more users of tobacco to be assisted in their quit attempts.